I just installed the "Intel-microcode" package, but I'm a bit confused. Does this install the latest microcode when installed, or do I need to do something after the package has been installed? I've checked the update manager but nothing there.

Last edited by Moem on Sun Jan 14, 2018 4:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:Marked this as [SOLVED] for you; please note that you can do this for your own topics. Thanks!

Intel send the Intel microcode 20180108 update for Linux systems to nearly all Intel processors even though it applies to only a subset of processors. In the case of microcode 20180108, it applies to only Intel processors that are not more than 5 years old, ie for 3rd-gen Ivytown(= Xeon) and 4th-gen Haswell and newer. It does not apply to Intel 3rd-gen Ivybridge and older processors, even though they may also install it.
... It is the users' responsibility to verify the applicability of the microcode update which can be "dangerous" or risky to the operating system.

Spectre 1 requires OS kernel or apps(eg browsers) to be patched. As of now, Ubuntu's Linux kernels have not been patched.

In comparison, Windows kernels have been patched for Spectre 1 and Spectre 2 since 4 Jan 2018.
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CPU patching for Windows is through BIOS firmware updates while for Linux it can be done through microcode software updates. Preference is through BIOS firmware update. ... https://wiki.debian.org/Microcode